The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-04-20

taken one of their degrees. They might give
me the grip 1000 times and would not
recognize It. / am ignorant Of their pass
words, and must judge entirely from the
outside. But Christ has given us a rule by
which we may Judge not only all individuals,
but all societies, secret and open. by their
fruits We shall know them.n Bad societies
make bad men, Good societies make good
men. A bad man will not stay in good
society. A good man will not stay In bad
society. Then try all secret societies by two
or three rules
Test the first: Their influence on home, If
YOU have a home That wife soon loses her
influence over her husband who nervously
and foolishly looks upon all evening absence
as an assault on domesticity How are the
great enterprises of reform, and art, and
literature and beneficence and public veal
TO be carried on il every man is to have his
world bounded ON one side by his front door
step, and on the other side by his back win
dow, knowing nothing higher than his own
attic or lower than his own cellari That
wife who becomes jealous of her husbands
attention to art or literature or religion or
charity is breaking her own scepter OF con-
iugal power. / know an instance where a
wife thought that her husband was giving too
many nights to Christian service, to charita-
BILE service, to prayer meetings, and to re-
ligious convocation She systematically de-
coyed him away until now he attends no
church, waits upon no charitable institution,
and is on rapid way to destruction, his
morals gone, his money gone, and ! fear his
soul gone. Let any Christian wife rejoice
when her husband consecrates evenings to the
service of humanity, and of God, or charity,
or art, or anything elevating.
But let no man sacrifice home life to secret
society life, as many do can point out to
YOU q great many names OF men who are
guilty Of this sacrilege They are as genial
as angels at the society room, and as ugly as
sin at home. They are generous on all sub
jects of wine suppers, yachts and fast horses
but they are stingy about the wives dresses
and the children's shoes. That man has made
that which might be healthful influence
4surper Of his affections, AND he has marrted
IL, and he is guilty of moral bigamy. Under
this process the wife, whatever her features,
becomes uninteresting and homely. He be-
comes critical of her, does not like the dress,
does not like the way she arranges her hair,
Is amazed that he ever was so unromantic as
to offer her hand and heart There are secret
societies where membership always involves
Joined a certain kind, and tell me nothing
more about him for ten years, and will
write his history If he be still alive. The man
is a wine guzzler, his wife broken hearted or
prematurely old, his fortune gone or reduced,
and his home mere name in directory.
Here are six secular nights in the week.
aWhat shall do with themr says the father
and the husband II will give four Of these
..:~l.&. <bs ;..,rroxray,aut and anfarfaiu.
ment Of my family, either at home or in good
neighborhood. will devote one to charitable
institutions. / will devote one to my lodge"
/ congratulate you. Here is a man who
says: "Out of the six secular nights of the
week / will devote five to lodges and clubs
and associations and one to the home, which
night / will spend in scowling like March
squall, wishing was out spending 1t as have
spent the other five.n That mans obituary Is
written. Not one out of 10000 that ever gets
SO far on the wrong road ever stops. Gradu-
ally his health win fail through late hours,
and through too much stimulants he will be
first rate prey for erysipelas and rheumatism
Of the heart The doctor coming in will at a
glance see it Is not only present disease be
must fight but years of fast living. The
clergyman, for the sake of the feelings Of the
Idmuy, Oh tne luiiei al uay VIII oniy Oolh "a
religious generalities. The men who got his
yacht in the eternal rapids will not be at the
obsequies. They have pressing engagements
that day. They will send flowers to the
coffin, will send their wives to utter words OF
sympathy, but they will have engagements
elsewhere. They never come. Bring me
mallet and chisel, and viii cut on the tomb
stone that mans epitaph: Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord" mo" you say,
"that would not be appropriate" Let me
die the death Of the righteous and let my Last
end be like his" "No,n you say, that would
not be appropriate" Then give me the NAL
let and chisel. and will cut an honest cpl
taph: ssHere lies the victim of dissipating
associationsln
Another test by which Won can find whether
your secret society is right or wrong is the
effect it has on your secular occupation. /
can understand how. through an institution.
a man can reach commercial success. / know
some men have formed their best business
relations through such channel. II the Sc
cret society has advantaeed Won in an hon
orable calling. it Is a good one. But has your
credit faileds Are bargain makers more
anxious how thew trust Won with a bale Of
roods9 Have the men. whose names were
down IN Cne cOmmercial agency A DeIOFe
they entered the society been going down
since in commercial standinga Then look |
out. You and every day know of CONNER |
cial establishments going to ruin through the
social excuses of one or two members, their |
fortune beaten to death with ball players,
bat or cut amidships with the front PROV Of |
the regatta, or going down under the swift |
hoofs Of the fast horses, or drowned in the |
large potations Of cognac or Monongahela. |
That secret society was the Loeb Earn. Their |
business was the Vile du Havre. They |
struck, and the Vile du Havre went underl
The third test by which you may know |
whether the society to which you belong Is |
good or bad is this: What Is its effect on your
sense of moral and religious obligation! Now, |
II should take the names Of all the people in |
this audience this morning and put them on q |
roll and then should lay that roll back of |
this organ, and 100 years from now some one
should take that roll and call It from A to z, |
there would not one Of you answer. I say /
that any society that makes me forget that |
fact Is bad society. When 20 to Chicago |
am sometimes perplexed at Buffalo, a. |